Science Week  

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

On 16 August, we were lucky to have several neuroscientists from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health come to visit us for National Science Week. The first speaker, Thijs Dhollander, spoke to us about his work with diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI), a way of scanning the brain and using computer imaging to test what direction the axons in the brain were travelling, so that when neurosurgeons have to cut out tumours in the brain they can make sure the tumour is safe to operate on. He also showed us a couple of examples of dMRI scans that had been done on patients to test if a tumour was safe to remove, including a scan of his own brain so we could see how it worked.

The second speaker was Amy Shepherd, and she told us about her work researching the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and possible ways to combat these effects working with mice. She told us about training mice to use touch screens to test how well they learn and perform cognitive tasks, both in mice with and without Alzheimer’s disease.

Additionally, the neuroscientists informed us about research that is currently being conducted on genes, which could possibly be used to treat one form of epilepsy using concentrations of spider venom.

It was really interesting to hear about current research of the field of neuroscience and psychology, and a bit about where it’s headed for the future! It was also really cool to hear about the relevance of what we learn in Psychology and how it is used practically in the field, particularly as in Units 3 & 4 Psychology we learn about the neural basis and effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Big thank you to Ms Mel Erwin for organising this event.

Zoe Day (Year 11)